Author: blablablaandgabbler

[BLA and GB GABBLER are two halves of the pen name behind the CIRCO DEL HERRERO series. Vol. 2, THE PRE-PROGRAMMING out now!]

GUEST POST: Elizabeth Bear on “Strong Female Characters”

Posted on by blablablaandgabbler

On strong female characters.

D Franklin's avatarIntellectus Speculativus

9781466846340_FC

Elizabeth Bear has long been one of my favourite writers, as readers will know; her upcoming novel, Karen Memory, is one of the books I am most looking forward to in 2015, and comes out on February 3rd. Given Bear’s outspoken feminism and her tendency towards female protagonists, I’m delighted to be able to present to you a piece by her on the strong female protagonist, and the problems thereof.
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Hi. I’m Elizabeth Bear, the author of Karen Memory, a new steampunk Weird West novel out from Tor. And I’m here to talk about failure modes in the theory and practice of creating the “strong female character,” specifically as it relates to female protagonists in science fiction and fantasy.

Or possibly, to rant about very concept of the “strong female character,” because it’s a catchphrase I’m starting to get really tired of. (I think Kate Beaton sums…

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The Just City by Jo Walton

Posted on by blablablaandgabbler

D Franklin's avatarIntellectus Speculativus

image

One day, in a moment of philosophical puckishness, the time-travelling goddess Pallas Athene decides to put Plato to the test and create the Just City. She locates the City on a Mediterranean island and populates it with over ten thousand children and a few hundred adult from all eras of history . . . along with some handy robots from the far human future.

Meanwhile, Apollo – stunned by the realization that there are things that human beings understand better than he does – has decided to become a mortal child, head to Athene’s City and see what all the fuss is about.

Then Socrates arrives, and starts asking troublesome questions.

What happens next is a tale only the brilliant Jo Walton could tell.

This review will contain SPOILERS
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I am a Classicist (well, ancient historian) by academic training, so when Tor said they were bringing out a book…

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“We’re not so different from convicts on the run…”

Posted on by blablablaandgabbler

[“BLA and GB Gabbler” (really just a pen name – singular) are the Editor and Narrator behind THE AUTOMATION, vol. 1 of the Circo del Herrero series. They are on facebook, twitter, tumblr, goodreads, and Vulcan’s shit list.]

all yellow B&N | Amazon | Etc.

Tweets of the week: All the little birdies going tweet, tweet, tweet:

Posted on by blablablaandgabbler

Every week. In no particular order.

…Our handle is “CircoFootnotes” for a reason.

Still on a journey through that infographic.

[I’m sure there’s an Author joke in there for me somewhere]

[“BLA and GB Gabbler” (really just a pen name – singular) are the Editor and Narrator behind THE AUTOMATION, vol. 1 of the Circo del Herrero series. They are on facebook, twitter, tumblr, goodreads, and Vulcan’s shit list.]

all yellow B&N | Amazon | Etc.

Today’s Featured Authors: B.L.A. and G.B. Gabbler

Posted on by blablablaandgabbler

Thanks again to Susan Leigh Noble from Into Another World for hosting an exclusive excerpt from THE AUTOMATION.

susanleighnoble's avatarInto Another World

Today I welcome the interesting writing duo of BLA and GB Gabbler. Please enjoy this excerpt from their book The Automation.

Book Excerpt

The Annotated Manuscript: The Automation: BOOK ONE

Vol. 1 of the Circo del Herrero series

By B.L.A., the Narrator, Storyteller, Omnipresent One 

And G.B. Gabbler, the Editor, Annotator, Reason This Is Seeing the Light of Day…

Stanza: The Yellow Brick Road is symbolic and will only lead to more metaphors.

Odissa remained silent as they drove to the river. She didn’t open her mouth. Words couldn’t help her.

She had remained silent when Dorian had come back from the bathroom. She had remained silent as the two men stuffed their faces with sweets in the stolen cop car. She had remained silent when they’d arrived at the river front.

“Might I see your purse, Odissa?” Dorian asked, putting out his hand.

“What? Why?” she stammered, thrown…

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